


Bruised Knuckles

by midnight5776



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/F, Ginny likes to fight, Luna likes her conspiracy theories, inner city school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 02:26:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7556464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight5776/pseuds/midnight5776
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny's good at fighting; it's what she does. She's always so angry and, so far, fighting has been the best way to release those feelings. Well, that is until she runs into Luna.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bruised Knuckles

**Author's Note:**

> JKR owns Harry Potter and its characters, I'm just borrowing them.  
> I'm going to dedicate this to the Linny squad who were my motivation for writing this one. Thanks for being so cool y'all!

When you grow up in the inner city and are as poor as dirt, you learn to defend yourself. There are several types of defense, but Ginny stuck with just good ole fighting. Her older brothers all had their own methods: Bill threw himself into sports and left with a scholarship, Charlie joined a gang, Percy studied so hard he got a scholarship to a boarding school in middle school and spent as little time at home as possible since, Fred and George were the class clowns, and Ron…well Ron just existed. Ginny, though—the sole daughter of the Weasley family—used her fists.

It started in second grade when some boy in Ron’s grade called Draco Malfoy laughed at her for being on the free lunch program at school. It was recess and while her eyes clouded with tears, she threw out her fist and it connected clumsily with Malfoy’s jaw. The mean boy fell backwards and broke out crying. Ginny angrily wiped her tears away with her bruised knuckles and smiled cruelly down at him.

Fighting was what she was good at.

\--

It stayed like that. Her fighting got more intense in middle school, where she was suspended the first time for breaking Crabbe’s nose. Molly Weasley shouted at her for so long that she promised herself not to get caught again. She was good at throwing her fists, but she wasn’t good at being patient while her mom chewed her out.

Ginny stopped getting caught.

\--

Middle school ended and high school came. Ginny got thrown around a lot at the start; she was the small fish in a large pond. By the time she was an upperclassman, people steered clear of her. She had no social standing and almost no friends, but no one messed with her and that was good enough for her.

Well, for a while.

One day after school, Ginny was exiting the school grounds when she saw two girls harassing another. The girls being bullies were Pansy and Daphne. They were part of the snobby group of student whom thought they were better than every one of their peers. They had taken the other girl’s schoolbag and dumped it upside down, emptying it onto the sidewalk. The girl who owned the bag was relatively new to school; she had only been around a few weeks. She looked completely unphased by the entire situation.

Honestly, Ginny should have turned around and just walked away. Minding her own business had always faired her well, but she hated bullies so much. In particular, she hated Pansy with her entire being. It was just a good excuse to scare her shitless.

“Hey,” Ginny called, walking toward them, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Just welcoming the new girl to school, ginger. There’s not need to worry about it,” Pansy stated nonchalantly.

“Shouldn’t you be heading home? Rumor is you work the nightshift at the McDonald’s down the street and I’m sure you’ll need a few hours of rest before you start providing for you family,” Daphne giggled, her lips shaped cruelly around her pretty white teeth.

“Wow, drag me using the concept of hard work. What an insult. I might actually cry myself to sleep tonight,” Ginny replied in a bored tone, completely dead pan. “With that type of wit, I’m sure your daddy can buy your way into college.”

“At least I’ll be going somewhere. We all know you won’t ever be leaving this town,” Pansy snapped.

“As long as you two leave, I think I’ll be content staying here,” Ginny scoffed. She stood too close to Pansy; their noses almost touching. “How about you give the new girl back her bag and go home to your dad and his mistress that’s almost your age before I actually get angry.”

“Jesus, red, chill the fuck out. We’re just playing around,” Pansy sighed and dropped the bag she had taken. “Your breath is more threatening than your fists.” Both her and the other girl backed up a few steps before turning to leave.

“Enjoy living in poverty,” Daphne called over her shoulder as her form of a goodbye.

“Damn,” Ginny murmured once they were gone. “I really wish they knew how to shut up.” She knelt down and started collecting the new girl’s stuff. After a moment, she joined her.

“Thank you. My name is Luna. I think you’re in my English class,” the new girl—Luna—stated in a dreamy tone. She sounded like her mind was far away from where her body was.

“It’s no problem. I just hate those assholes.” She paused. “My name’s Ginny.” She stood and handed Luna her bag. “Don’t let them get to you. This school is filled with rich assholes. It’s best to just steer clear of them.”

With that, Ginny turned and returned to walking home.

\--

“Hello, can I eat lunch with you?” Luna asked the next school day. She didn’t wait for an answer and settled down next to Ginny on the cement floor between two of their school buildings.

“Uhh...I guess so?” Ginny replied. She didn’t want her to, but how can you say ‘no’ when the person is already sitting down? Ginny focused on her two sandwiches and tried not to notice Luna.

“Thanks!” Luna sounded far too excited for anything happening involving Ginny. She pulled out a sandwich on some really dark bread and it looked like the contents were only vegetables. As she ate, she flipped through a book that had a UFO on the front.

“You know, aliens aren’t, like, real,” Ginny informed her.

“They are, you just have to let yourself believe.” For such a slight girl, she had a lot of confidence radiating from her when she made the statement.

“No, they really aren’t. I think History Channel even disproved it.”

“Daddy says History Channel lies because all big media outlets are tied into the government and of course the government doesn’t want us to know about aliens. That could cause wide-spread panic and the opportunity to rise to a higher consciousness.” Ginny understood every word that left Luna’s mouth, but as a statement put together, she had no clue what she said.

“What the fuck are you going on about?” Ginny demanded through a mouthful of turkey-and-cheddar sandwich.

“The government doesn’t want to lose its control over us,” Luna stated as if it was the simplest thing ever to comprehend.

“Are you some sort of hippie that doesn’t believe in ‘The Man’?”

“No, but Daddy says my mom was a hippie, so maybe it’s genetic? “

“Yeah, I don’t think it works that way…” Ginny muttered.

“I like to think it does,” Luna said with such hope in her voice that Ginny couldn’t bear to correct her.

\--

Luna continued eating lunch with Ginny. Each lunch she had a weird sandwich and some sort of crazy book. She started sitting next to Ginny in the class they had together and, eventually, Luna started walking home with Ginny.

“Luna, you can’t come home with me,” Ginny stated bluntly.

“Oh, I’m not planning on going in. I just wanted to walk you home. Daddy says the spirits aren’t settling too well today and I figured I’d walk you home in case it was dangerous out.” Luna had the weirdest habit of stating the most obscure things as if she was observing what the weather was currently. It was both unsettling and slightly endearing.

“I…Well…Thanks, I guess. I just…I don’t bring people over, okay? So don’t expect to come in.” Ginny tried her best to sound tough, but it came out more of a plea. She just didn’t want to be mean to such an innocent person.

“Of course! I would never enter your house without permission. That’s just rude.” Luna smiled at Ginny brightly and Ginny definitely ignored the strange feeling in her stomach she dismissed as a reaction to the barely-edible sandwich she had called lunch.

“Right…” Ginny murmured.

Luna walked her to her door and snuck in a hug before skipping back down the pathway and toward her own house. Ginny stood baffled for at least two minutes before she shook herself and went inside. She couldn’t remember the last time she let someone besides her mother or Bill hug her.

\--

“Here!” Luna said excitedly while holding out a braided necklace that was obviously handmade. On it, it had a brownish stone that was polished and attached to the necklace with some copper wire.

“Oh…thanks?” Ginny replied and eyed the necklace.

“It’s Tiger’s Eye. Some people believe crystals have special meanings and bring certain energies to a person. This one is supposed to be good for physical protection. I figured since I know you fight a lot—I can tell by your knuckles—I could give you some sort of protection as thanks for when you helped me that one day.”

“Oh,” Ginny said more genuinely that time, “that’s…wow that’s really nice of you.” She didn’t deal well with situations like that one, but she actually really liked the gift. She put the necklace on and fiddled with the stone for a moment.

“You know, Luna,” Ginny murmured under her breath while looking at the crystal, “you aren’t that bad.”

Coming from Ginny, that was an amazing compliment. Luna grinned at her. “You’re pretty cool, too.”

\--

“Daddy said you could come over this weekend and we could rent some movies and make popcorn and stuff,” Luna said nonchalantly while eating her cucumber and cheese sandwich.

“I’d like that,” Ginny replied uneasily after a moment. She hadn’t had a friend in ages and never spent the night anywhere but home. “I’d…really like that.”

“It’ll be great! You’ll just love Daddy!”

\--

That Saturday, Ginny packed a bag (she packed a lot of things because she wasn’t sure what to bring to a sleepover) and walked to Luna’s house. She had never been there before, but Luna had given her directions the day before. When she knocked on what she assumed was the right door, a man with very curly, messy blonde hair opened the door and greeted her.

“I’m Mr. Lovegood, Luna’s dad. I’m going to assume you’re Ginny,” he said lightly and motioned her in. She just nodded and followed him inside.

Ginny quickly learned that Luna got all of her strange hobbies from her father. The house was filled with large crystals placed specifically to “increase positive vibes and bring our home protection” Mr. Lovegood explained. There were articles taped up about aliens and missing people and haunted houses. The bookcase was crammed full with worn down copies of books about anything from JFK’s assassination to paganism in the modern era. A few months ago Ginny would have thought it was completely insane to have all of that, but now, she sort of liked it.

“Your home is really neat,” Ginny murmured as she ran a finger over the spine of a book in some language she didn’t recognize.

“Thanks,” Mr. Lovegood replied politely. “Luna’s mother and I have been collecting some of those books for ages. Luna’s just like her.”

“I bet she was a fantastic person then.” Ginny didn’t realize what she had said until the words left her mouth and she blushed. “I mean—“

“That was really kind of you.” Mr. Lovegood had a strange look in his eyes and a very genuine smile on his lips.

“Ginny!” Luna cheered as she entered the room. “You really came!”

“Of course I did,” Ginny said with a lopsided smile. “I’m not a complete asshole.”

Mr. Lovegood laughed.

\--

It quickly became a habit that Ginny spent the night at Luna’s at least once a weekend. Between the fact that Luna was good company and the house was less crowded, Ginny really liked it at Luna’s house. Instead of watching movies, eventually they moved on to watching full tv series together. Ginny listened to Mr. Lovegood talk about his experiences researching haunted locations in college and learned about the abilities some teas had from Luna.

The most promising bit of it all was that, when Ginny was near Luna, she didn’t feel as angry. For years all Ginny had felt was anger. At first it was scary for it to fade away, but she began to prefer it. They became inseparable.

Her knuckles got bruised less often.

\--

“Hey,” Ginny murmured when Luna opened her front door one evening.

“Oh, hi Gin! I didn’t realize you were coming over!”

“Can I talk with you?” Ginny asked quietly, not looking up from the ground.

“Of course,” Luna said, her brows furrowed together in worry. Both girls sat on the well-worn couch. It was quiet for a long time and Luna waited for Ginny to talk.

“I told you about my brother, Percy, right? He’s the smart one away at college. He’s about to graduate this spring and…and apparently he came out to my parents, right? Today over the phone. He says he’s gay and has a boyfriend and he wants to introduce him to my parents when they go to his graduation, but my mom…She just started sobbing. She insisted her son couldn’t do such a thing a-and Luna, I didn’t realize how much my mom was against people being gay.” All of her words were barely a whisper, but Luna watched how her clenched fists shook and noted the purple skin on her knuckles.

“I’m sure your mom will come around—“

“She told Percy she won’t go to his graduation.” With that, Ginny’s voice broke. “I know Percy has always been an ass and pretentious as all hell but to miss his graduation over who he dates? It’s so stupid and I…I…”

“You know your mom can’t stick to that. She loves you all almost too much. She’ll cave and go to his graduation.” Luna rested her hand on both of Ginny’s. Ginny loosened her fists just enough to hold Luna’s hand between both of hers.

“L-Luna…” Ginny took a deep breath, “I’m…I like girls, Luna. And I can’t tell my mom because she won’t be able to handle it. She kept crying and sobbing all evening, asking my dad how her baby could possibly stray so far.” Her voice trembled, more emotion escaping than anyone had seen from her in years. She didn’t cry because Ginny Weasley did not cry, but she shook and took shaky breaths.

“Oh, Gin,” Luna murmured and pulled her best friend into a hug with her free arm. Ginny ducked her head under Luna’s chin. “It’ll work out. Percy will have it the hardest. Once your mom warms up to the idea of him being gay, it’ll be much easier for you. It’ll be okay.” Her words were muffled as she spoke into Ginny’s fiery hair, but Ginny nodded regardless.

“Worse-case scenario,” Mr. Lovegood called from the kitchen, “you can just move in with us. You half live here anyways.” Their house was so small that it was hard to not hear any conversation going on.

Ginny just laughed alongside Luna. That was always an option.

\--

Spring came around and eventually, Percy graduated. Ginny’s parents ended up going and her mother begrudgingly admitted she liked Percy’s “friend”. It wasn’t enough, but it was progress and it helped eased Ginny’s anxiety some.

\--

When summer hit, Ginny spent the majority of her time with Luna. Luna insisted summer was the prime time for alien appearances, so they spent a lot of night lying in Luna’s backyard waiting to spot some proof.

It was mid-July when both girls lay on their backs in the Lovegood back yard, watching the sky. It was well past two am, but Mr. Lovegood didn’t have a curfew for Luna since she hadn’t really had friends before Ginny. They fit together that way.

“Your name is really suiting,” Ginny murmured.

“How so?” Luna asked curiously. Both girls didn’t look at each other but just watched the sky.

“Well, ‘Luna’ means ‘moon’, right? And the moon glows and is really pretty, right, and people have a lot of strange theories about it like what’s really on the dark side of the moon—“

“Daddy insists there’s an alien colony there. He can show you the research tomorrow,” Luna chimed in and Ginny just smiled.

“I’d really like to see that. But, you know what I’m saying. The moon is all that stuff, but so are you. You’re so damn blonde and pale you sort of glow like the moon and you’re definitely pretty—like the moon. You know lots of strange theories—not that the theories themselves are strange, but having such a wide knowledge of so many subjects is just unusual and cool. You get what I’m saying?” Ginny finished lamely.

“I know what you’re saying,” Luna agreed in her wonderfully dreamy voice. “You think I’m pretty.”

“No—I mean, yes? But not like—“

“I think you’re pretty too, Ginny, but more like a flame.”

“Oh,” Ginny muttered, turning bright red. Luna’s voice was so natural and hers was definitely several pitches higher than normal.

“You’re confident like fire and intimidating to a lot of people, but I’ve never really been afraid of fire. Your hair matches the flames, too.”

“I…I guess it does.” Ginny paused awkwardly. “Thanks, Luna.”

“Of course, Gin.” A very soft hand found Ginny’s and the fingers wove between her own. She was holding hands with Luna Lovegood while watching for a UFO sighting. Luna, the weird girl at school who knew more about what many considered fiction than reality. Luna, the girl kids laughed at in the hallway if she wasn’t around and ate weird vegetable sandwiches and wore necklaces with really strange pendants on them that she insisted were magical. That Luna was holding her hand.

“Is this okay?” Luna asked, pulling Ginny out of her thoughts.

“Y-yes!” Ginny replied too quickly, but Luna only giggled. Ginny loosened up and giggled as well. “I mean, yeah, it’s totally cool.”

“I like you, Ginny.”

“I like you too, Luna.”

\--

In the fall of their senior year when everyone else was worried about applying for colleges, Ginny was worried more about Luna meeting her mother. They both weren’t planning on going to school anymore, but Luna did insist on Ginny telling her mother about them.

So, one Sunday Weasley Family Dinner, Luna joined the family. She had met the Weasleys a handful of times, but that was the first extended visit she had had.

While sitting around the dining room table, Ginny cleared her throat after the table was cleared and everyone was having dessert. “Mom, Dad,” Ginny started. Both her parents set down their silverware and looked at her curiously. Ginny rarely spoke up at home and—specifically—she didn’t make announcements.

“I uhh…I just wanted to inform the two of you that I’m dating Luna,” Ginny said rather bluntly. Luna moved to hold her hand and smiled pleasantly at her girlfriend’s parents.

Mr. Weasley looked perfectly normal. He just smiled and nodded. “I’m happy you finally found someone you like enough to date.”

Mrs. Weasley was a different story. She turned a light shade of green and began to tremble slightly—whether it was from anger or sadness, Ginny didn’t know.

“We’re happy, right honey?” Mr. Weasley asked his wife. Mrs. Weasley took a very deep breath and shakily released it.

“Yes we are,” Mrs. Weasley agreed stiffly. “We’re really happy for you, Ginevra.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Ginny said with a smile. Mischief flashed in her eyes, as if she was daring them to start a fight. Ginny could fight with her words, too, if she needed to.

“Dinner was really lovely, Mrs. Weasley. Could I get your recipe for how you seasoned the chicken? I’m sure Daddy and I would like trying to cook it like this sometime,” Luna stated politely, changing the subject to the relief of all the Weasleys.

“Of course, dear. I’ll just make a copy of it and Ginny can bring it to school tomorrow,” Mrs. Weasley replied, easily distracted.

So maybe Mrs. Weasley liked Luna a bit.

\--

“I can’t believe we graduated,” Ginny murmured after they threw their caps up into the humid air. The entire stadium was incredibly loud, but in her little bubble that contained only herself and her girlfriend, the world felt so still.

“We did it,” Luna nodded in agreeance. She wrapped her thin arms around Ginny’s neck and smiled up at her. “I love you, Ginny Weasley.”

Ginny’s eyes widened as her girlfriend said those words for the first time. She felt her cheeks heat up and her lips curl up in a smile.

“I love you, my moon,” Ginny said very quietly. She leaned down and gently kissed her girlfriend. “I love you so much.”

“I’m very glad you do,” Luna replied with a sweet giggle.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
